If you’re learning a foreign language and you want to broaden your vocabulary, I would highly suggest that you try translating contents. I prefer this method over committing myself to learn x number of words per day everyday. It may have worked for some but it didn’t work for me. The reason that I do not recommend for people to expand their vocabulary by memorizing a list of words everyday is that there’s a high chance that you will forget more than half of what you have memorized in the next few days. I have met a lot of Koreans who memorize tons of words in a day but they never really know how to apply them in daily life. There is a difference between knowing a word and knowing how to use a word. In my own personal opinion, memorizing words kinda takes the fun out of learning a language and it starts to feel more like a chore that I have to do everyday rather than a hobby that I enjoy doing.

When you learn vocabulary through reading, you actually get to see how a word is used and throughout the entire article, the word may have appeared more than once so you get to see other ways to use the word. Also, by the time you’ve reached the end of the article, the word and its meaning may have already been stuck inside your brain.

But instead of just simply reading an article, why not challenge yourself to translate it? Yes, it can be hard at first but it’s very rewarding. The feeling you get after translating an article is priceless. Not only do you get to learn new words but you also tend to understand grammar patterns better. Hitting two birds with one stone.

A couple of months ago, I’ve been invited by a friend to install an app called BIGO Live. I’m not sure if any of you guys have heard of it before but it’s an app similar to Periscope where you can do live broadcasts but in BIGO Live, you get to earn money from the gifts sent by the viewers. It’s very similar to Korea’s AfreecaTV. BIGO stands for Before I Get Old and its headquarters is located in Singapore.

Out of curiosity, I joined BIGO Live and I have discovered a few famous broadcasters including a Korean guy named Aram. With more than 110,000 fans on Bigo, he is considered as one of the most popular Korean male broadcasters on BIGO Live and he is under an agency called Media Bridge. I’m one of his social media managers. I used to be very active in updating his Facebook page and creating graphics for his social media accounts but I had to take a break because it was eating up all of my time and I wasn’t getting any work done for my business.

Note: I do not get paid for being his social media manager and I’m not affiliated with Media Bridge.

Not long after I went on a Bigo Live hiatus, he won an award and he needed help in translating his interview into English. And since none of his other managers could speak Korean, he came to me for help. I was really worried at first because my Korean skills are kinda rusty now. I was afraid of making the mistake of translating the contents wrongly. But I still gave it a shot and it was worth it because I learned new words and phrases that I have never encountered before. And I had that giddy feeling when I realized that despite not doing any studying and practicing, I could still translate stuff without having to check the dictionary frequently.

Anyway, here’s the interview and it was posted on Bigo Live’s app and Facebook page.

I can’t find the other screenshots so I’ll just post the entire script here.

QUESTIONS:
1.BIGO LIVE Star 2016노력형 스타상을 받으셔서 제일 하고 싶은 말이 무엇 입니까?1. What would you like to say for winning the BIGO Live Star 2016 Industrious Award?
2.자신의 방송은 다른 사람들과 다른 점이 무엇이라고 생각하십니까?2. What do you think makes your broadcast different from other broadcasts?
3.BIGO LIVE Star2016 이벤트에 참여해서 가장 큰 수확이 무엇입니까?3. What was the biggest thing you’ve obtained after participating in the BIGO LIVE Star 2016 event?
4.언제부터BIGO LIVE에서 방송을 시작하셨습니까? 왜 라이브 방송을 하고 싶습니까?4. When did you start broadcasting on BIGO LIVE? Why do you want to broadcast?
5.BIGO LIVE Star2017이벤트를 시작하면, 라이브 방송에서 어떤 색다른 콘텐츠를 도전하고 싶습니까?5. When the BIGO LIVE Star 2017 begins, what other contents would you like to try for your live broadcasts?
6.당신을 사랑하고 응원하는 팬과 시청자에게 무엇을 말하고 싶습니까?6. What message would you like to say to all your fans and viewers who love and support you?

1. I was shocked when I heard that I got the Industrious Award in BIGO LIVE Star 2016. A part of me felt a bit embarrassed to have been chosen for this award as there are so many other people out there. I will work harder to be able to do fun broadcast with various contents this 2017.

2. I personally put a lot of effort in trying to do broadcasts where I can communicate and relate with people. I’ve been trying to come up with special contents that other people don’t do in their broadcast.

3. Uhm… The biggest thing that I’ve obtained is that through BIGO LIVE Star 2016, I was able to feel the love of the fans who are supporting me. I think that is the biggest thing I’ve obtained. I’m grateful that I have a lot of fans who likes me a lot even though I’m just an ordinary person just like any other. Haha. Well, I also earned some beans, of course. Honestly, I’m quite happy to see that I’ve earned a lot of beans.

4. I started using BIGO LIVE in July. At first, I started using it out of boredom but as I continued to broadcast, I was getting to know people and I was helping and giving people some entertainment and I thought that those two things suited my personality perfectly. I want to do a broadcast that will allow me to get to know people and sincerely approach them that’s why I’m currently preparing to go on a trip around Southeast Asia this March to meet my Bigo friends whom I’ve known for quite some time. I’m looking forward to it.

I have different contents that I would like to show. I like traveling. Since a long time ago, I’ve always want to share the beautiful places I go to during my travels in different countries to people who are busy with their everyday lives. Even though it’s my trip, I don’t make any plans and just freely go to places the viewers want because by doing so, doesn’t it make you feel like you’re travelling with them together?

6. To be honest, instead of calling them my fans and viewers, I prefer to call them my friends. Haha. Anyway, this is what I want to say to my friends. We all know that people drift apart as times goes by~ Just like how friends who used to be close start to drift apart as communication gets less frequent. It’s the same for me. I don’t think that I’d be friends forever with the people I met on Bigo (of course, I’d like it better if things stay that way…) however, I would like to tell them that before we start to drift apart, let’s create memories together, memories that will be remembered forever! Hahahahaha! It’s so cheesy, right? I’m sorry. You may vomit if you want. Hahahaha!

And just a few days ago, he asked for my help again in translating a Korean script for a video tutorial of one of the talents in their agency. (Note: This was done with very limited time so some parts may not be as accurate as I had wanted it to be and I didn’t have enough time to proofread it so please bear with my mistakes.)

I actually just finished translating the subtitles for an upcoming video from their agency but the video isn’t up yet so I can’t post it here yet, not even the script. For the meantime, let me promote him. Follow him on his social media accounts.

I was answering the previous intermediate TOPIK papers. I wanted to practice my writing skills so I decided to write an essay. I picked the essay question from the 32nd intermediate TOPIK paper. “What is something you want to do but you can’t?” I’ve thought of writing about how I can’t communicate well with Koreans the way I wanted to but I decided to write something else. Anyway, please excuse the audio. I recorded it as soon as I woke up becaue that’s the only time I can record an audio. Excuse my voice. And my awkward accent. My speaking skills is something I’m definitely not confident of because I make mistakes in pronouncing words. ^^;;

A girl from the Philippines who enjoys learning Korean language through self study. A survivor of the 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan. A former interpreter for a South Korean military base camp. Have met and worked with the cast and crew of MBC's 'Real Men (진짜 사나이)'

meloncreme is an online journal about her life as a young entrepreneur and her hobby which is learning Korean language.

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